For almost 50 years, the SAT has played a pivotal role in the college admissions process. The upcoming transition from the traditional paper-and-pencil format to a digital, adaptive SAT marks one of the most significant changes since its inception in 1926. The Class of 2025 will be the first cohort of U.S. students to undergo both the PSAT and SAT in a digital, adaptive format.
Early acceptance rates at these institutions showed a significant advantage over regular decision rates, according to U.S. News data. Though crafting a standout college application can be a time-consuming and stressful process, submitting an application in the fall, well before the typical winter deadline for regular admissions, is possible.Read on to find out more.
tutoring service fredericksburg va
In recent years, and especially during COVID, the private tutoring industry has booming in the U.S. As a result, there are plenty of tutors out there, so the question is, how do you find the right one for you? We’re here with a list of the best way to choose your perfect tutor. Read on to find out more.
The current pandemic has led to unprecedented disruptions in student learning in the United States. Remote learning, decreased instruction time, and fewer opportunities for personalized interactions with teachers have set the stage for widespread learning loss, also referred to as the “Covid-19 slide.” These risks are greatest for low-income students, students of color, and students who were already in need of additional support before schools closed their doors. As the education system works to stabilize and adapt, addressing learning loss must stay at the forefront of the conversation. Policy and education officials must be proactive in identifying strategies to combat the growth of preexisting inequities and gaps in educational access and achievement. Rigorous research indicates that tutoring — supplemental one-on-one or small group instruction — may be one of the most effective tools they can employ.
J-PAL North America’s new publication, “The transformative potential of tutoring for PreK-12 learning outcomes: Lessons from randomized evaluations,” summarizes a meta-analysis of 96 randomized evaluations of different tutoring programs. Drawing primarily from research in high-income countries, this publication examines the effectiveness of tutoring programs across a variety of characteristics, including tutor type, subject, student grade, and others. The meta-analysis finds that tutoring programs have consistently large, positive impacts on students across this range of program aspects. The magnitude and consistency of the findings point to tutoring as one of the most agreed-upon and impactful tools available to educators for improving student learning.
The review identifies valuable insights and trends across five categories.
Program effectiveness: Across all studies included in this analysis, tutoring programs consistently lead to large improvements in learning outcomes for students, with an overall pooled effect size of 0.37 standard deviations. (Effect sizes greater than 0.3 standard deviations are considered to be large impacts, especially in the context of education interventions.) This impact translates to a student advancing from the 50th percentile to nearly the 66th percentile.
Tutor type: Tutoring programs led by teacher or paraprofessional tutors are generally more effective than programs that use nonprofessional (volunteer) or parent tutors. Paraprofessional tutors include, among others, non-teacher school staff, undergraduate and graduate students in education, and service corps fellows. Paraprofessional programs led to positive effects of nearly the same magnitude as teacher programs and were more consistent in their outcomes. This presents a potentially cost-effective option for highly impactful programming.
Student grade level: The effects of tutoring programs tend to be strongest among students in earlier grades, although a smaller set of programs at the secondary level was also found to be effective at improving learning outcomes.
Subject material: While overall effects for math and reading tutoring programs are similar, reading tutoring tends to be relatively more effective for students in preschool through first grade, while math tutoring tends to be more effective for students in second through fifth grade.
Time and location of tutoring: Tutoring programs conducted during school tend to have larger impacts than those conducted after school. Many programs shown to have weaker effects used parents as tutors or took place in an after-school program. Researchers hypothesize that it is difficult to ensure that tutoring actually occurs in these settings.
This publication is meant to serve as a resource for supporting student learning and minimizing the growth of academic disparities during the Covid-19 slide. In addition to highlighting tutoring as an effective educational tool, it also identifies meaningful trends to inform how tutoring programming can be implemented most effectively. Finally, the publication outlines key open questions about how to effectively scale tutoring programs, support older students, and make tutoring accessible to the students who need it most. J-PAL North America is seeking to answer some of these questions through their COVID-19 Recovery and Resilience Initiative.
We also invite you to explore how Vint Hill Educational Services can help if you need greater flexibility in the how, when, and where of your educational journey. We have a consistent record and demonstrated success of helping students improve their grades, scores, and overall academic functioning. In addition, all our programs are taught by highly qualified teachers and tutors. You can find out more about us by visiting our website or calling us directly at 540-680-4004. We're always happy to talk with you about your options and how we can help.
Vint Hill Educational Services offers subject-based tutoring in math, science, reading, writing, English, history, and foreign language. Most of our math tutors can teach Pre-Algebra up through Calculus. They are also prepared to aid elementary school children with structure, basics, guidance and workload focus, and to help middle school students navigate the ins-and-outs of staying focused in this increasingly digital educational world. Our tutors take subject-specific tests before being hired, so we can guarantee they know the content.
We don't just assign any available tutor; we actually handpick the best tutor for your child. Before accepting the tutor, parents receive a tutor profile to review and approve. The tutor matching process consists of the following: subject area knowledge, tutor education, tutor personality, tutor background, student weaknesses, student schedule, and location preference (in-office, in-home, or public library).
Each session is usually one hour in length and one-to-one for individualized support. Parents receive access to our online Teachworks tutoring system and will be able to review tutor session notes, receive session email reminders, and keep track of session hours used and hours remaining.
We know these are challenging times and we are here for you. Please reach out with your questions and we will help relieve your worries and get your kids on track!
Essay questions are based on themes and overall ideas. Teachers like to use essay questions because they give students the opportunity to express everything they’ve learned over the last few weeks. Essay test answers reveal more than the bare facts. When submitting essay answers, students are expected to cover lots of information in an organized manner.
But what if you prepare for an essay question and the test doesn’t include one? No worries! If you use these tips and understand the themes and ideas of the test then other questions will come easily.
1. Look for teacher “special” words. If you hear your teacher use “again we see” or “a similar event occurred,” be sure to take note of it. A pattern or chain of events is key.
2. Every day themes. As you review your class notes after school, make sure to look for themes. Brainstorm your own essay questions based on your themes.
3. Glance over chapter titles. Textbook chapters often refer to themes. Look at each title and think of ideas, events, and terms that fit within that theme.
4. Practice the questions. Be sure to use vocabulary words found in your notes and course books. Highlight or underline and go back to review their relevance.
If you take good notes and think in terms of themes, as you study, you’ll be prepared for every type of test question. You’ll soon find that, in understanding the theme of each lesson or chapter, you’ll begin to think more like your teacher.
Contact us for Academic Coaching and we'll help get you prepared!
Organizing your homework is a great way to improve your grades. One successful way to do this is to incorporate a color coding system into your homework routine.
Here are the steps:
1. Get a set of inexpensive supplies arranged by color.
You may want to start with a pack of colored highlighters, then find folders, notes, and various stickers to match them.
• Folders
• Sticky notes
• Highlighters
• Round stickers
• Labels
• Flags
2. Select a different color for each class. For example, you may want to use the following system:
• Orange=US History
• Green=Algebra
• Red=Chemistry
• Yellow=English
• Blue=Health
• Pink=Marketing
3. Create a connection between the color and the class. Here's a good starting suggestion, you might relate the color green to money or plant life. This may make you think about math subjects or biology class. Try to relate a few colors to some of your classes. The connection will be clear in your mind after a few days.
4. Pocket folders: Use each folder to keep track of homework for each class. The type of folder isn't important; just use the type that is best for you. Sometimes your teacher will recommend a specific folder.
5. Notes work well when it comes to researching articles. You can note down book and article titles, phrases, passages, comments, and such, to use in your paper, including bibliographical citations. Keep standard manila notes if you can't carry multiple packages of colored sticky notes. Use different colored pens in order to keep track of each class.
6. Flags are for marking pages or reading assignments. Place a colored flag at the beginning and ending pages for each assignment. You can also use flags for marking dates in your organizer. Place a flag on a date when an assignment is due. You can use different colors for your various classes. You'll have an everyday reminder that a due date is approaching.
7. Highlighters should be used when reviewing your notes. During a lecture, take notes like you usually do and be sure to include the date in your notebook. Once you get home, look over and highlight using different colors. You can breakdown the colors by subject, information type, or relevance. If your papers get jumbled up (or never get put into your classroom folder) you can recognize them by the highlights.
8. Round stickers are great for your wall calendar. Be sure to keep a calendar in your room or in the kitchen, and place a color-coded sticker on the day that an assignment is due. For instance, on the day you receive a research paper assignment in history class, you should place an orange sticker on the due date. This way, everyone can see an important day approaching, even at a glance.
Contact us to learn more about Academic Coaching. Our tutors will make sure you stay on track and on top of your assignments! We have coaches in Northern VA, Richmond VA, Fredericksburg VA, Bethesda MD, and Washington DC.
Learning styles can differ from student to student. Learning styles are the approach an individual takes in learning, or acquiring and assimilating new information. If the student can discover how he or she learns best; the individual will know what strategies and study techniques to employ, in order to accommodate one’s learning style.
Primary types of learning styles:
1. Visual
2. Auditory
3. Kinesthetic or experiential
Who are visual learners?
• Don’t like long speeches
• Responds to viewing charts, pictures, and graphs
• Enjoys observation
• Enjoys visual stimulation
• Develops images in their mind
• Thinks in terms of images and pictures
Visual recommendations:
• Watch your teacher’s body language and pick up on certain cues
• Keep a notebook and pencil readily available
• Write material over and over again
• Draw pictures to help associate what your notes mean
• Utilize technology: computer, tablets, laptops, apps, and other media
• Ask questions in class and stay involved
• Visualize information as a story
Who are auditory learners?
• Prefers oral instruction
• Not a fan of lengthy notes
• Diagnoses meanings through tone and voice
• Responds well to speech and lecture format
• Talks ideas through in their head
• Picks up quickly on words, pitch, and voice nuances
Auditory recommendations:
• Talk things out to yourself
• Try to use word analogies
• Say information out loud, over and over for memorization
• Practice classroom presentations
• Get involved in debates
• Use songs and melodies to aid in memorization
• Converse with friends about your ideas
• Read words out loud when proofreading
Who are kinesthetic or experiential learners?
• Likes to touch and handle objects
• Uses their hands when communicating
• Design oriented
• Enjoys using tools and equipment
• Responds well to activities: painting, drawing, or physical activities
• Sitting for long periods of time is not easy
• Willing to take more chances
• Attracted to exploring
Kinesthetic or experiential recommendations:
• Take breaks when studying
• Switch up topics frequently
• Do more physical things when studying: walk around, ride an exercise bike, play with a squishy ball, read notes while doing chores, chew on taffy
• Make your work desk colorful and intriguing
• Visualize your work from beginning to end
• Play soft music in the background
• Have parents and friends proofread your work
• Use bright colors for highlighting reading passages
• Glance over a passage first to get a feel for it
Learn more about how our tutoring services can help your child!
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